"The Paladin's Quest"
By S. T. Gray
Copyright Summer 2006

Part I

Chapter 1

Long ago, a heated duel has commenced between the Pharaoh and Seto the Warlock. Seto has been backed into a corner. He was staring down the Pharaoh's only monster: Chaos Sorcerer. Two of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons were wiped away from existence by the Sorcerer's powerful hexes. Seto had one last chance to save his soul from disappearing like his prized dragons.

He drew what would be his last card. What luck! With great excitement, he throws White Dragon Ritual onto the field, sacrifices (with little reluctance) the Lord of D. from his hand, and calls forth Paladin of White Dragon. Then, he gives Paladin a giant hammer, and the Paladin follows up by chanting the Spell Hammer Shot. A gigantic hammer rockets toward the earth from the heavens, and Chaos Sorcerer is slain.

The Pharaoh is left speechless as the giant sledgehammer dissolves into mist, revealing a flattened, bloody mess of the Sorcerer's former self. With no defense to block him, the Paladin goes in for the kill. Riding his dragon like a valiant steed, the Paladin lunges at the Pharaoh. His spear cuts through the Pharaoh's heart and tears upward along his spine, and splits his skull.
The battle is over, and the Pharaoh falls in defeat. Servants arrive to scoop up his remains and place his tattered body into its final resting place. He is placed into his golden tomb and it is laid for the rest of eternity in the Pyramid of Anubis.

Meanwhile, Seto the Warlock is promoted to Pharaoh Seto the Leader of Dragons. At his right side stands the Paladin, recently crowned champion of the land. As a reward, Seto gives the Paladin an ultimate quest. The goal is to use his dragon to travel the world in search of the legendary Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Rumor has it that the only way to summon such a lethally powerful beast, the Paladin must first find three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Then, he must gather them at the highest peak in the northern-most territory. Only in such an extreme environment will the ultimate legend appear.

The first dragon is located in the southwest, according to a reliable source (known only as the Mapkeeper) in the nearby town. He went on to describe that on the other side of the vast wasteland lies an evil place shrouded in constant shadow. Nobody knows the true name, but the Mapkeeper labeled it as Pandemonium. It is a dangerous place, so then he advised the Paladin to stock up on plenty of Spells and Traps, and above all else, be prepared for the worst.

After the priceless information, the Paladin visits the Spell and Trap Emporium. He uses the virtually limitless funds he received from Pharaoh Seto to buy two equipable Ritual Weapons, a Lightning Vortex scroll, five Mirror Force hexes, and plenty of vials of medicine from Dian Keto the Cure Master. He then approaches a mysterious bandit and purchases his Seven Tools, knowing far too well of the power they hold. Satisfied with his inventory, the Paladin mounts his White Dragon, looks up at the sky for direction, and takes off toward the wasteland ahead.

Chapter 2

A day has passed since the Paladin has departed from the palace. His dragon glides along the swift breeze above the monotonous dunes of sand, each passing dune looks exactly like the one before. Above him, only the blazing sun with not a single cloud. And yet, even in this nothingness, the Paladin remains resolute.

Suddenly, the bright sky seemed to become extinguished by overwhelming shadows. The dragon continues with the constant pace. In the far off distance, explosions light up the darkness. The dragon slows, as the explosions grow greater, brighter, and closer.

In order to get a better look at the scene, the Paladin pulls the dragon higher. Below, it appears to be a war raging. It has left the city in ruins; nothing but smoldering rubble. The Paladin lets his dragon creep toward the battle. Now, much closer, he notices that there are two armies, each with a very well known leader. One side of the feuding monsters stands the powerful Dark Ruler Ha Des, and on the other side looms the horrible Terrorking Archfiend, who just noticed him. The battle ceases frighteningly quickly, as each battler looks skyward and sees the White Dragon shines brightly against the infinitely dark sky.

Knowing that he is now the new target of the onslaught, the Paladin orders his dragon to charge, head-on, into the hostile crowd. The Paladin dons his Ritual Weapons and feels a great bolt of power surge through his being. The Dragon lets out bursts of energy, obliterating any Fiend in the way. He reaches the other end of the battlefield, and waits for the imminent reply. Shocked by this newcomer's audacity, both Dark Ruler Ha Des and Terrorking Archfiend order their remaining troops to attack. The Paladin holds his great spear aloft and chants the Mirror Force hex.

A bolt strikes his weapon and sends out a gigantic wave of thermonuclear power. The blast completely wipes out the charging troops. Terrorking Archfiend and Dark Ruler Ha Des are stunned. They have obviously never seen such power like this before. The Dark Ruler chants Royal Decree; however, the Archfiend has a different idea. As the Dark Ruler was chanting to end the bloodshed, the Archfiend brought Vilepawn Archfiend back from Hell with his hidden hex: Call of the Haunted. Terrorking Archfiend lets out a vile, raspy, high-pitched laugh as he unleashes the Curse of The Masked Beast, catching the Dark Ruler completely off guard. The Masked Beast rises and devours the Vilepawn, and then stomps on the Dark Ruler, pinning him to the ground. Then, the giant beast bends down, and clutches the Dark Ruler's head, twists, rips it off, tosses it in his mouth, chomps down, and swallows. As blood drips down the front of his body, the beast picks up the decapitated Dark Ruler, holds one arm in each claw, and pulls. Each arm is torn from the body. Blood erupts from each new orifice as the Beast engulfs each limb.

With his hunger satisfied, The Masked Beast turns on his summoner. Terrorking Archfiend demands that the Beast attack the Paladin (now just a spectator to the horrific scene), but it proves too powerful to be ordered. The Beast slowly approaches the Archfiend, who has stopped trying to command it, and is now desperately searching for some way to stop its advance. He finally pulls out a flask, hidden within his cape, labeled Ekibyo Drakmord and opens it, but all too late. The Masked Beast is now towering over the Archfiend. It raises one massive claw and launches it straight through the Archfiend's skull and pulls his body off the ground and closer its masked face. With its free hand, it removes the mask hiding its face, and inhales. Aghast, the Paladin can only watch as the Beast sucks in what seems to be the very soul of Terrorking Archfiend. Instantly, the Archfiend falls limp on the Beast's wrist.

The battlefield is now clear of any fighting, explosions, any life at all. The Masked Beast tosses the lifeless Archfiend aside and replaces the mask to its face, then turns to face Paladin of White Dragon. The Paladin knows now that, in order to find and free the first Blue-Eyes White Dragon, he must bring this terrifying Beast down. The White Dragon rises airborne once again. The Paladin throws one Ritual Weapon into the clouds above, pulls out a scroll, and recites the words inscribed. As he finishes, the stormy sky shatters and a gigantic bolt of lightning crashes onto the Beast below. The flash dissipates, and leaves a crater in its wake. The Masked Beast is no more.

Chapter 3

The clouds in the sky clear away, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful hue of blue. The Paladin lands his Dragon and dismounts near the ruins of what was once a village, still smoldering from the violent civil war. He proceeds through the town and finds no visible sign of any possible survivor. Dismayed, he turns around and makes his way back to the Dragon. Just then, he hears rustling to his left, and clutches his javelin. A shell of a house turns to mist; which clears to reveal a big robotic machine, the likes the Paladin has never seen before.

The robot raises a mechanical arm with a whine, and a door opens on its side. A small man climbs down the machine and clambers over to the bewildered Paladin.
He introduces himself as Kozaky, a self-proclaimed scientific genius and engineer, and that monstrous machine is his latest invention. He cleverly named it Giant Kozaky. Gesturing to the ruined surroundings, he continues to explain that the battle the Paladin interrupted was a three-year-old civil war between the two power-hungry armies of Fiends. Once they destroyed this once bustling city, they set their sights on another prize: Technology. As he goes on, Kozaky tells of the team of Magical Scientists who were captured by a squadron of the Archfiend army. Upon receiving that information, Dark Ruler Ha Des became infuriated and quickly set up a sting operation using a Night Assailant armed with the ability to conjure an extremely powerful spell.

The Assailant found the Scientists' holding cell with relative ease and picked open the lock. However, before the Scientists had a chance to escape, Opticlops guards surrounded them. The Assailant panicked, and he chanted the spell of Dark Hole. The room split violently apart, and everything and everyone were vaporized into darkness. The guards, the Assailant, even the captured team of Magical Scientists were ripped into a few trillion atoms.

After hearing of the Night Assailant's disaster, Dark Ruler Ha Des and his scouts scoured the ruins of the city for any surviving Scientist, but they found no one. This only managed to anger the Dark Ruler more, and, with nothing more to lose, he declared an all out assault on Terrorking Archfiend's army.

Chapter 4

Kozaky admits that surviving the war was nothing short of miraculous, but he noticed that the Paladin was beginning to grow bored with the lengthy flashback. So, he inquires the Paladin of the reason he came to such a desolate place. The Paladin explained his quest of finding the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and unleashing the ultimate legend. Kozaky's eyes widen and he tells the Paladin to follow him into a hidden tunnel. This tunnel was actually home to the small genius, where he pushes buttons, flips switches, and pulls levers, making a lot of ruckus in doing so.

Kozaky then scurries back outside, and the slightly confused Paladin follows close behind. Not long after, a tidal wave rushes toward them, and it dies down to nothing more than a puddle in front of their eyes. Within the water stands a Sea Serpent named Kaiser Sea Horse, holding his trident proudly. Kozaky tells the Paladin's quest to the newcomer. Kaiser Sea Horse understood immediately. He stabs the three points of his weapon into the ground and takes a few steps back. Suddenly, a burst of light came from the very heart of the Kaiser. His body falls to the ground, but the bright aura of his soul raises high above, increasing in size as it goes.

As suddenly as Kaiser Sea Horse fell limp, his soul explodes and Blue-Eyes White Dragon appears in the mist that was brighter than the desert sun. It lets out a bellowing roar and flies to the far north. The Paladin stood, awestruck. Kozaky looks up at him and beckons him back to his senses. He then runs back into his home and returns clutching a map. He says that a traveling merchant informed him that another Blue-Eyes White Dragon is located to the east, on a tiny island engulfed with terrible creatures of the deep sea.

With no further reason to remain, the Paladin bids a friendly farewell. He mounts his dragon and takes off.

~~~To be continued~~~

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Wow, neither did I!

This version is complete crap... To read the newest version, follow the link in Marc29's sig. You'll truly be amazed :cool: